Talk:Formula Future/@comment-27123099-20161115062941
Due to a busy life recently, I was left to complete stages 5.4 through to the end all today. Thanks to all the tips and tricks here, plus some judicious bot management, I was able to finish up at PR 140.6, 3323332. I started at 3323331, but added one more GC upgrade (on 8.2) before the end. Here are some highlights of the stages that seem to be the standouts: 7.4 - Autocross event with the MP4-X degraded to perform like a Ferrari F14 T, win the stage with an average speed of 119 mph - This one took me several attempts. Then I read some of the tips and tricks and eventually, with Tilt B, no assists, some cut corners, and some luck, I was able to just barely get the green banner. I beat the time solidly (24.931sec vs. 27.231sec), but that was enough to just barely get me above 119mph and get the green banner. 7.5 - Endurance event, must achieve 8.5mi without damaging the car and with only 9 liters of fuel. - I beat this one I think on my 2nd or 3rd attempt. my failure(s) were due to tapping a competitor. I knew I could achieve the distance if I could steer clear of the other cars. The secret here is to use Tilt B (as it is with every fuel management race). This way, you accelerate when you need to, but let off the throttle and coast to slow down rather than using the brakes. After my 1st lap (and a bit over 4 miles), I still had almost 5 liters of fuel left. So I knew I should be OK distance-wise, again, as long as I could drive a clean race. Near the finish line for 2nd lap, I was at 8.57mi with 56+sec left and 0.84 liters of fuel remaining. I stopped the car and let the time run out, green banner, no problem. 8.1 - Stay under 10mph for the 1st 10 sec, then win while not going off-track for more than 2sec. - So, they say 10mph, but the throttle is so touchy, a slight tap puts out over 10mph. Plus, 10mph is meaningless anyhow. Best to just sit and wait out the 10sec. I'd sit at Tilt B until 10sec was up, then hit the throttle, pause, switch back to Tilt A and go about the race. I did fail this one a handful of times, generally due to my aggressiveness. I was tying to take out other cars and I'd end up sending my car off track and surpassing the 2sec limit. Eventually, I opted to go for a clean race and I managed to get the win without much trouble with 0.0sec of off-track time. Finished ~40yds ahead of Martinez in 2nd place. 8.2 - This one also gave me some trouble. I honestly don't recall how many attempts I made (I raced it maybe 12hrs ago), but it was probably in the teens. I read up on the tips and tricks and tried to cut corners where I could and look for any advantage I could get. Much like Michael P, I did have to add another GC Upgrade (T&W 2) and this did bring down the goal slightly and made it manageable for me. Eventually, on my winning attempt, I was Tilt A, Brakes Low, TC On and I used this most of the way, but there was one corner I noticed the throttle would lift and there was slight braking, but I knew this corner could be taken full throttle. I can't recall which corner it is exactly, but it's a slight kink, not terribly tight, but enough to trigger the brakes if you use Low assist. So for my winning attempt, i paused just before this corner, switched the Brake Assist Off, then unpaused and once I made it through the corner, I switched the brake assist back to Low. This was enough to get me the advantage I needed and I ended up finishing in 1st with a time of 30.224sec to Magnus at 30.747sec. 8.3 - Speed Record, no off-track with tires that wear as the lap goes by. - This one was troublesome for me. After reading through the tips and tricks, I decided the driving in reverse and using the long straight with the wall at the end was my best bet. I had to give this one maybe 20-30 attempt before I finally learned where I could push it and where to start my run down the straightaway in order to get the speed. Unfortunately, there was one attempt where I topped 240mph, but in my attempt to turn around and complete the lap, I managed to go off-track and failed. It took me maybe another 10 attempts after this to beat it again. On my winning attempt, I immediately paused after passing 240mph and slamming into the wall, switched to Brake Assist High and gingerly turned around and ran the full lap the correct way around, slowing around the turns (even with Brakes High), in order to not accidentally fly off track due to the tires being at 0% most of the way around. Green Banner, with a speed of 240.02mph to Magnus at 240.01mph!!! Can't cut it much closer than that, onward to 8.4! 8.4 - 2 Lap Cup, no off-track, tires starting at 0% and warming up through the race. - This was supposedly the toughest race for many players. I managed to win it on my first attempt. I was Tilt A, Brakes Low, TC On, and I didn't have much trouble at all honestly. I just made my way through the pack and won, not sure what else to say. I also failed to take any screenshots as I accidently clicked through too early, but I know I finished at about 2:40.xx. In any case, on to 8.5. 8.5 - 2 lap Head to Head against Magnus, either wait 10sec at the stat and win, or overtake Magnus 15 times, then win. Due to the screwed up AI which prefers to ram you instead of pass you, I opted to wait 10sec and then chase Magnus down. Due to Magnus's worn tires, I caught him before the end of the 1st lap, then went all out since I didn't have to worry about bot management any longer. I finished 15sec ahead of Magnus at 1:33.864 to Magnus at 1:48.417. MP4-X is in my garage!! Here are some screenshots of some of the stages I described above.